Makes Me Feel There Are Songs To Be Sung

One Man Global Content Provider Mark Steyn has another illuminating Song of the Week: "You Make Me Feel So Young" by Joef Myrow and Mack Gordon. You know the one:

"You Make Me Feel So Young
You make me feel 'so spring has sprung
And ev'ry time I see you grin
I'm such a happy in-
dividual"

Or at least I thought I knew it.

First off, I'd always loved that odd rhyme - "grin/in-dividual" - and the playful way each syllable of in-di-vi-du-al gets ac-cent-u-a-ted. But whoever knew that this rhyme is known as an apocopated rhyme (as in "apocope" meaning "the omission of the final sound of a word" according to my OED). I'll be listening out for those in the future.

Second off, take another look at that second line:

"You Make Me Feel So Young
You make me feel 'so spring has sprung"

That's "'so" meaning "as though". That's a nifty bit of English.

I must have heard this song scores of times but never really noticed that cunning little contraction before. Lyric-writing is often about economy. Due to the dictates of the music you only get a limited number of syllables to say what you need to say. Those linking words and phrases that help to make good flowing prose are often clumsy and cumbersome when it comes to lyrics. Contractions, abbreviations and slang are a lyricist's best friends and, when none are available, the best lyricists simply make them up - 'so they'd always existed.